A/HRC/40/CRP.1
Locations which were clearly of a civilian nature were attacked and looted including
the church, medical clinic, and the school.1328 Indeed, the Government forces are reportedly
occupying the medical clinic, school and church buildings.1329
The SPLA launched a number of other attacks at Ngoko1330 including another in midNovember 2018. As with the attack on 3 October, the November attack started in the morning
with the SPLA arriving from the Mboro direction. No SPLA-IO forces were present in the
village, only civilians. Yet the soldiers were using heavy weapons including RPGs and
shooting at civilians. Houses were again burned and possessions looted. 1331
People fled Ngoko and hid in the bush. At the beginning of December 2018, it was
estimated that 7,000 people from Ngoko were still surviving in the bush.1332 One witness who
returned briefly to Ngoko in late November told the Commission that there are not more than
30 people remaining in Ngoko.1333 Furthermore, the SPLA are reportedly based near the
village’s only water source so people are too afraid to collect from it and are instead traveling
three hours by foot to access water. 1334 The attack on Ngoko had a particular impact on the
civilian population as there had already been thousands of IDPs sheltering there from other
areas in the Wau Triangle.1335
One of the latest attacks the Commission documented occurred in the early morning
of 5 November 2018 in the village of Tagoti Vimoi, a small of village of approximately 500
inhabitants to the southwest of Busseri.1336 The SPLA arrived from the direction of Baggari
with their military vehicles on the road and proceeded to the village on foot. 1337 While there
had been opposition forces in the general area before the attack, they did not go into Tagoti
Vimoi village and the Commission was told that there were no opposition fighters in the
village at the time of the attack; nonetheless, a large number of SPLA soldiers entered the
village shooting1338 and “they just shot at everyone”.1339 At least two civilians were reportedly
killed during the attack including an elderly man who was beaten and then shot by the
soldiers.1340
As occurred elsewhere, the SPLA looted people’s harvests, beds, chairs, bicycles,
motorbikes, cooking utensils, chickens, and over 50 goats.1341 After they had looted each of
the tukuls, they set fire to them.1342 One witness who returned to the village and described:
“There was fire everywhere. My house was burning.”1343
SPLA soldiers had already been patrolling the area of Tagoti Vimoi in the days before
the attack, harassing civilians and accusing them of being “rebels”. 1344 A deaf man and a
woman were shot and although the woman initially survived she eventually died of her
injuries while the villagers only found the man’s body three days later when they saw vultures
hovering above the location.1345 The harassment extended to beatings and detention,
1328
Witness 928, ERN 101842-101847, para. 14; Witness 967, ERN 101914-101919, para. 8; Witness 930, ERN 101794-101798,
para. 9; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December 2018.
1329 Witness 967, ERN 101914-101919, para. 8; Witness 930, ERN 101794-101798, para. 9; Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December
2018.
1330 Witness 914, ERN 101788-101793, para. 11.
1331 Witness 970, ERN 101925-101929, paras. 8, 9.
1332 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 1 December 2018.
1333 Witness 967, ERN 101914-101919, para. 15.
1334 Witness 967, ERN 101914-101919, para. 15.
1335 Confidential Meeting, Wau, 4 December 2018; Witness 914, ERN 101788-101793, para. 11.
1336 Witness 968, ERN 101920-101924, paras. 6, 15, Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, para. 4, Witness 958, ERN 101783-101787,
para. 5; Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, para. 6; Witness 954, ERN 101864-101869, paras. 5, 10.
1337 Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, para. 8; Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, paras. 6, 8, 10; Witness 954, ERN 101864101869, paras. 8, 11.
1338 Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, paras. 7, 8; Witness 954, ERN 101864-101869, para. 5.
1339 Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, paras. 11, 13.
1340 Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, paras. 9, 10; Witness 954, ERN 101864-101869, para. 14.
1341 Witness 968, ERN 101920-101924, para. 6; Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, paras. 8, 12; Witness 958, ERN 101783-101787,
para. 6; Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, para. 8; Witness 954, ERN 101864-101869, paras. 6, 13.
1342 Witness 954, ERN 101864-101869, paras. 6, 7, 13; Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, para. 8.
1343 Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, para. 12; Witness 958, ERN 101783-101787, para. 6.
1344 Witness 968, ERN 101920-101924, paras. 7, 8; Witness 966, ERN 101909-101913, para. 7; Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875,
para. 10.
1345 Witness 955, ERN 101870-101875, para. 9.
166
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